Post on 21-Sep-2018
Introduction to Actuarial ScienceAn academic’s experience in creating a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC)
Adam ButtPresented to the 2017
Actuarial Teachers and
Researchers Conference
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Agenda
• Background to MOOCs
• Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
• Experience running the course
• Impact on the actuarial profession
• Impact on higher education
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What is a MOOC?
Background to MOOCs
Main players
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• Coursera
• edX
• FutureLearn
• Canvas Network
• Udacity
Background to MOOCs
edX
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• Founded by Harvard and MIT in 2012
• Other partners are ANU, Berkley, Cornell, ETH Zurich, Princeton, Toronto, etc.
• Over 650 courses ranging from humanities, math to computer science
• Over 5 million usersBackground to MOOCs
Course iterations
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• Synchronous version 17 October – 14 December 2015
• Self-paced version 22 December 2015 onwards
Background to MOOCs
Background to “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
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My “sales pitch” to the university requesting permission and support for the course:
The actuarial profession is one of the smallest and least known professions in the world,
although it is growing rapidly worldwide, particularly in Asia. Despite the profession’s
size, actuaries have a significant influence in financial markets, with their combination of
mathematical, statistical, economic and business knowledge being vital in understanding,
quantifying and managing financial risks. This course will provide students with an
introduction to the actuarial profession and the fields that actuaries work in, along with
basic examples of actuarial work in practice. We see the course as being of interest to
students considering an actuarial career as well as those who are interested in the work
of actuaries. As the first MOOC that we are aware of in actuarial science worldwide, the
course will promote both the profession and the ANU actuarial program.
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
What’s in it for me?
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• Exciting opportunity to learn about a new form of educational structure
• A chance to build my personal brand and perhaps a social media presence
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Writing the course
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• Driven by target market – those looking to make university/career choices
• Aim was to give students an experience of the profession in as short a time frame as possible
• Centre course around a specific example of actuarial practice – life insurance
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Writing the course
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• I first wrote “course notes”
• 7 Lessons + Final Exam:1) Valuing Cash Flows
2) Applications of Valuing Cash Flows
3) Analysis of State Transitions
4) The Life Table
5) Valuing Uncertain Cash Flows
6) Modelling a Life Insurance Company 1
7) Modelling a Life Insurance Company 2
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Turning a written course into an online course
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• A series of 3-8 minute videos
• Guest lecturers
• Interspersed with questions that examine what has been learned in the videos
• Discussion forums
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
An example video
12Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
An example question
13Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Marketing
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• “About video” for course enrolment page
• Other animated
videos for
social media
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
About video
15Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Marketing
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• Reddit AMA
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Marketing
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• Media
• Interview for our department website
• Articles for various actuarial associations
• Creating my own blog
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Funding
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• A total of $90,000 to design course from university and department
• Have spend only around $30,000 of thisIon hardware/software, animation, captioning, guest lecturer travel, teaching assistants and marketing
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
A summary of my experience developing the course
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• Yes it takes a lot of time! – but most of this is before the course
• Checking is vital
• It’s a project planning exercise!
Developing “Introduction to Actuarial Science”
Student numbers (as at 10 July 2017)
20Experience of running the course
Course version Synchronous Self-paced
Total enrollments 11,490 24,101
Paid (Verified) enrollments 178 328
Attempted Assessment Question 1.1
1,793 4,500
Attempted Assessment Question 2.1
1,059 1,985
Attempted Final Exam Question 16
236 294
Passed the course 472 533
Student location
21Experience of running the course
US = 21%
India= 16%
Australia = 7%
175 countries!
Student prior education
22Experience of running the course
Student motivation
23Experience of running the course
Feedback
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• Course reviews 4.5 out of 5 stars (15 reviews)
“Well taught and in an excellent format of short interviews with an area
specialist followed by a lecture from the specialist and then
spreadsheet oriented exercises. For anyone thinking of the US exams,
I think this is a better first step toward becoming an actuary than
focusing on statistics & probability for the first exam since this gives a
better impression of what the professional environment and processes
might be like.”
Experience of running the course
Future intentions after course
25Experience of running the course
Impact of course
26Experience of running the course
Comments from those who said the course had a significant impact
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• I had a brief idea about what is included in the field of Actuarial
Science, but the interviews with the industry experts gave me a
more clear picture as what a career in actuarial science has in store
for me.
• It confirmed my enjoyment of dealing with mathematics in the
context in business problems.
Experience of running the course
Comments from those who said the course had a significant impact
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• Before this course, I almost knew nothing about actuarial science;
what I knew is being an actuary is a good job. After taking the
course, I know what actuarial science about and maybe it's not
impossible to be an actuary for me if I work hard, and I'm really
interested in actuary science and data analysis.
• I have studied Operations Research and Biostatistics. I did not know
much about Actuarial Science before the course, but found it
fascinating.
Experience of running the course
Comments from those who said the course had a significant impact
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• I never thought I would be interested in finance, and Introduction to
Actuarial Science has shown me the beautiful world of problem
solving using numbers. Every day actuaries are confronted with
different problems to solve, and it was through this course that I got
a taste of how it was like to be an actuary.
• It has demystified / explained the subject
Experience of running the course
What I was happy about
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• Nothing broke!
• Positive feedback
• Got the difficulty about right
• Great response to guest speakers
• Meeting students in India
Experience of running the course
What I was not so happy about
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• Student introductions did not work well
• Student numbers drop off
• Lack of community feel
Experience of running the course
Future options
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• Bilingual
• Synchronous for high school students
• Use as credit towards university entry
• Use as credit towards ANU degree
• Run another synchronous version
Experience of running the course
How teaching a MOOC has impacted my “live” teaching
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• More flexibility in time structure
• Using videos to supplement live classes
• Making live classes more interactive
Experience of running the course
How will MOOCs affect the actuarial profession?
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• Lots of questions from students on whether my MOOC would prepare students for actuarial exams
• Associations will maintain the qualification key
• Will learning become free and paying for completing exams become the funding model?
Impact on the actuarial profession
How will MOOCs affect higher education?
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• Inevitable that “online” degrees will become even more prevalent
• More learning material will be made freely available online
• Rationalisation of on-campus providers
• Providers will work to differentiate online and on campus offerings
Impact on higher education
Thank you for listening!
36Impact on higher education